A TALKING computer program is turning the tables on paedophiles by fooling them into thinking they are holding email conversations with children.

A TALKING computer program is turning the tables on paedophiles by fooling them into thinking they are holding email conversations with children.

They find themselves trying to groom "nanniebots" - software characters with human-like personalities. If a nanniebot detects classic signs of paedophile activity, such as an adult posing as a child, it sends out an alert.

The British IT consultant who developed the system, called Chatnannies, claims tip-offs from his software have already led to police investigations. Jim Wightman, from Wolverhampton, has so far sent 100,000 nanniebots incognito into chatrooms.

Each one is capable of sustaining a natural-sounding conversation, drawing on the internet to obtain information about pop and youth culture.

Every nanniebot also has dozens of parameters assigned at random to give it an individual "personality".

They are so good at passing themselves off as young people that in conversations with 2,000 chatroom users no-one has yet spotted that they are not human.

The nanniebots are programmed to send transcripts of suspicious conversations to Wightman. If they raise sufficient concerns he relays the information to the police, including the e-mail address of the suspect user.

Chris Atkinson, Internet Safety Officer at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, told New Scientist magazine, "If this software works, then it would be marvellous because there is nothing like this out there."

However, she warned it might be possible for paedophiles to outsmart the system, since grooming activity did not have to be sexual.

According to Wightman, Chatnannies is sophisticated enough to look for less obvious signs that something is amiss.